Carrying case comprising hinged together sections and means for retaining same in locked condition



NOV. 26, 1968 JAMISON ET AL 3,412,832

CARRYING CASE COMPRISING HINGED TOGETHER SECTIONS AND MEANS FORRETAINING SAME IN LOCKED CONDITION Filed Feb. 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1ZZZIILL r 6 [Ir/1 6 Arman?! Nov. 26, 1968 JAMI N ET AL 3,412,832

CARRYING J E COMPRISING GED TOGET SECTIONS AND MEAN CR RETAINING SAME INLOCKE ON IO Filed Feb. 6, 1968 Sh s-Sheet 2 United States atent OCARRYING CASE COMPRISING HINGED TO- GETHER SECTIONS AND MEANS FOR RE-TAINING SAME IN LOCKED CONDITION Harry Jamison, Beechhurst, and Ralph M.Verni, Baldwin, N.Y., assignors to The Jamison Plastic Corporation,

North Bellmore, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 8, 1968, Ser.No. 703,919 14 Claims. (Cl. 190-49) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thecarrying case comprises a pair of hinged together case sections. A bezelattached to one case section at its edge, has means overlapping the edgeof the other case section when the case is closed. Said sections,adjacent their edges, have slots. A member hinged transversely to thebezel, has a pair of parallel tongues that move through said slots whensaid member is swung in one direction, to told said sections in closedposition. A key actuated slider on said member engages a keeper on thebezel to lock said member and retain said sections in closed condition.When said key actuated slider is in unlocked condition. said slider hasa releasable snap latching engagement with said keeper, to permitunsnapping said member to open position with said tongues out of saidslots, so that the case sections can then be swung apart.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to attac'h cases and the like carrying cases or luggage caseswhich comprise hinged together sections which close, with edges at theiropen sides of the case sections coming together, and to locks forretaining said case in closed condition.

Description the prior art Attache cases have been known to comprisehinged together sections provided with key actuated lock means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One object of this invention is to improve theconstruction disclosed in our copending application Ser. No. 561,276filed June 28, 1966 and now Patent No. 3,371,757. In said copendingapplication, a bezel is attached to the edge of one case section andoverlaps an edge of the other case section when the case is closed. Amember hinged to said bezel was provided with a pair of parallel tonguesreceived in openings near the edges of said sections, to thold thesections closed. In said copending application, there was no lockprovided to retain said member closed, other than a releasable snap fitbetween said member and a latch on the bezel. The bezel, its latch andsaid hinged member were all made of plastic. No key actutaed means wasprovided to retain the case in locked condition.

-It is hence another object of this invention to provide a caseconstruction of the character described in which the hinged membertogether with its tongues, is made of metal, while the bezel is made ofplastic, and in which key actuated means is provided to lock said hingedmember in locking position.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a case of thecharacter described, a keeper integrally formed with the bezel, a slidermovable under actuation of a key, beneath said keeper, and said sliderhaving a snap latching engagement with said keeper when in unlockedcondition.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a device of thecharacter described, improved lock construction in which the lockingslider is also made of plastic, and a metal box containing the slider isfixed within the hinged member, and has a slot through which a tongue onthe slider passes for locking engagement with the keeper on the bezel.

A further object of this invention is to provide a strong and durablecase of the character described, which shall be relatively inexpensiveto manufacture, easy to manipulate and which shall yet be practical andefiicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of invention will be indicated in the following claims.

Brief description of the drawing In the accompanying drawing, in whichis shown an illustrative embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of an attaoh or carrying case embodying theinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top view taken on plane 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of 3;

FIG. 5 is a corss-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to thedrawing, 10 designates a carrying case emboding the invention, hereshown, for purpose of illustration only in the form of an attach case.Except for changes or dilferences indicated herein this case may besubstantially like the one disclosed in our said copending applicationSer. No. 561,276 filed June 28, 1966.

The case 10 comprises a-pair of case sections 11, 12 which may be hingedtogether in any suitable manner. Case 11 has an outer side Wall 13 fromwhich a bottom wall 14, end walls 15 and a top wall 16 extendsubstantially at right angles to said side wall.

Case section 12 comprises an outer side Wall 20 from which a bottom wall21, end walls 22 and top wall 23 extend toward Walls 14, 15, 16respectively. Wall 14 is hinged to wall 21 so that the case sections canbe swung open or shut.

Attached to the outer edge portions of walls 15, 16 is a bezelpreferably made of plastic. Said bezel comprises a central web portion31 from which upper and lower flanges 32, 33, respectively, extendoutwardly thereby forming opposed grooves 34, 35 respectively receivingthe edge portions of walls 15, 16 and 22, 23. The bezel is permanentlyattached to walls 15, 16 by adhesive or in any other suitable manner,and removably receives the edge portions of walls 22, 23.

A central handle 36 may be hingedly attached to the middle of the topportion of the bezel in the manner disclosed in our said copendingapplication Ser. No. 561,276, or in any other suitable manner.

The upper flanges 32 of bezel 30 are formed on opposite sides of handle36 with opposed pairs of parallel notches 37 at their outer edges. Walls16, 23 are formed with pairs of parallel through slots 38 registeringwith said notches 37. Flanges 33 are formed with pairs of parallelthrough slots 39 registering with slots 38.

said one position of said member, for locking engagement with saidkeeper.

2. The combination of claim 1, said slider, in its retracted position,having snap latching engagement with said keeper.

3. The combination of claim 1, said means to hinge said member to saidone case section, comprising a bezel fixed to said one case section, andmeans to hingedly connect said member to said bezel.

4. The combination of claim 3, said bezel having a longitudinal groovefixedly receiving an edge portion of said one case section and a grooveremovably receiving the edge portion of the other case section.

5. The combination of claim 4, and said keeper being integrally formedwith said bezel.

6. The combination of claim 5, and said bezel having a Web portiondisposed between said edge portions.

7. The combination of claim 5, and said bezel having slots registeringwith the slots in said case sections for receiving said tongues.

8. The combination of claim 7, and said bezel having notches throughwhich said tongues pass.

9. The combination of claim 1, said member comprising a top wall fromwhich side walls extend downwardly, shoulders extending inwardly fromthe lower ends of said side walls, and said tongues extending downwardlyfrom said shoulders.

10. The combination of claim 9, a box fixed within said member andhaving a bottom wall resting on said shoulders and an end wall formedwith a slot, said slider resting on said bottom wall and having a tongueadapted to pass through said slot in said end wall.

11. The combination of claim 10, said top wall of said member beingformed with an opening, a key receiving ferrule rotatably mounted onsaid top wall, and a spring interposed between said slider and ferrule.

12. The combination of claim 11, said spring having arms interconnectedby a bent back portion, said arms having openings through which a keyinserted through the slot in said ferrule may pass through to engage anotch formed in the slider.

13. The combination of claim 4, said bezel being made of syntheticplastic and said member being made of metal.

14. The combination of claim 13, and said slider being made of syntheticplastic material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,741,603 12/1929 Axelman 190-493,112,018 11/1963 Gehrie 190-49 X DONALD F NORTON, Primary Examiner.

